Social:

RSS:

The voice of the Pope and the Church in dialogue with the World

language:

Vatican Radio

Home /
Church

Pope: Mission, the best cure for the Church

18/04/2013

SHARE:

(Vatican Radio) Pastoral ministry should always be missionary and its ministers must
be courageous evangelizers not afraid to go out ‘into the deep’, the outskirts of
existence, to bring the ‘sweet and comforting joy’ of faith to people today.

This
is Pope Francis’ message to his brother Argentinian bishops who are gathered in the
city of Pilar for their Plenary Assembly, an assembly he was to have led as President
of the Episcopal Conference, before his election to the papacy. Emer McCarthy reports:

In a letter sent to the group, who will remain in closed session until
April 20, the Pope begins by ‘apologizing’ for his absence noting that ‘recent commitments’
have impeded his attending. He then urges them to reflect on the theme ‘Into the Deep’
in light of the great missionary document of Aparecida, launched following the V General
Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. A document the then
Cardinal Bergoglio helped draft.

“Mission” he notes, “is key to ministry”.
“A Church that does not go out of itself, sooner or later, sickens from the stale
air of closed rooms”. Pope Francis went on to concede that at times, like anyone
else, in going out the Church risks running into accidents. But he added “I prefer
a thousand times over a Church of accidents than a sick Church”.

Pope
Francis said that the Church typically suffers from being self-referential, of only
looking to and relying on itself. He spoke of a “narcissism that leads to a routine
spirituality and convoluted clericalism” and prevents people from experiencing the
sweet and comforting joy of evangelization.

Pope Francis concluded
his letter with a special greeting to the Argentinian people, and a fraternal embrace
for his fellow bishops asking them to pray so that “I do not grow proud and always
know how to listen to what God wants and not what I want”.

In a statement
released during the Plenary Assembly, the Argentine bishops addressed the issue of
pending reform of the justice system. They write that any reform requires "profound
insight", "extensive consultations, discussions and consensus on the many proposed
changes."

The note, entitled "Justice, democracy and the national Constitution,"
refers to the proposed reform of the justice system made by the Head of State, President
Cristina Fernandez Kirchner: the text, already sent to Congress, provides for the
reform of the Council of the Judiciary, a law ensuring democratic access to the courts
and prosecutors, the change of the rule imposing an obligation of transparency of
actions carried out by the judiciary and the creation of three separate Appeals Courts
.

"A hasty negotiation of reforms that are so significant - the bishops
write - run the risk of debilitating the republican democracy established by the Constitution,
particularly in one of its essential dimensions, that is, the independence of the
three powers: legislative, executive and judicial."

Other issues also
on the agenda during the Plenary Assembly include the election of Pope Francis, the
first Argentine Pontiff, and preparations for the Fourth National Missionary Congress
which will open in Catamarca on August 17.

Photo: Residents of the Villa
21-24 slum pray during Mass in the Virgin of Caacupe chapel, where then Cardinal Bergoglio
used to give mass, in the Barracas neighborhood of Buenos Aires.